Lead Belly - "Scottsboro Boys" 

Jamaican Philosopher Marcus Garvey told Africa and Ethiopia to stay awake in 1923 in one of his speeches

Yes definitely. in the best sense of the word. However, I doubt he was talking about the almost entirely bougie white female western lead authoritarian movement which has combined postmodernism, the Frankfurt school critical legal theory, and CRT as a massively effective trojan horse (and cultural appropriation) so that rich white women like Robin Diangelo can create a multitude of philosophical fallacies to HR departments for 24 k an hour. This is becoming yet another huge way for white people to profit off the suffering of black people. I think its time for the :progressives" to face that maybe their realizations about systemic racism only apply to themselves. Robin Diangelo does sound like she has a ton of racist ideas about black people. Just saying.

@@oudguitar Oh shut the fuck up.

No, today 'woke' has been weaponized by the far right to mean anything they disagree with. It is the most overused word in the English language and has been drained of all meaning.

@@squatch545 The term "far right" has been weaponized to mean anything people on the left disagree with. Because, in general, most people are not really interested in nuance.

Used "woke" correctly 👏 👏

Woke is a joke on civilization too.

@@oreally8605shut up

Congressman is the biggest criminal.

@@oreally8605go woke or go broke.

The great musicians of today learn from great musicians like Lead Belly and many older black men who played the blues for the early 1900's. I learned from Steve Howe what he learned from several well known and some great not so well known.

I agree, but it's still sad that it's fully applicable.

The song remains the same.

Amen leadbelly, amen!!!

I'd love to agree - but what is a griot? (please pardon my ignorance_

Griot Description A griot is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, or musician. The griot is a repository of oral tradition and is often seen as a leader due to their position as an advisor to royal personages. As a result of the former of these two functions, they are sometimes called bards

Yeah! Someone agrees! So important, this song!

This is not even close to his best song. YOU ARE A MORON THAT KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT HIS MUSIC< OR MUSIC IN GENERAL!

Yes. I always reply to some dismissive disrespect to woke with "stay sleep"

​@@sojrnrr8368perfect response!

You bet !

That's what racist Fox News and republicans like Carlson do...

who spinning it

@@fawkewemf5616 Our political situation in the United States.

Anybody who uses the word "woke" as a pejorative is, to put it very mildly, part of the problem.

@@coiladdict Being used by Republicans to marginalize and undervalue what woke is suppose to mean, "best stay woke, keep your eyes open"

Right on !

Yep, cc are crap, but since they're "English (auto generated)", I'm not sure there's anyone to blame

1938

@@jgsrhythm100 thanks

Hell, there may be an earlier usage but this is one that just got recorded.

Siddhartha Gautama beat this by 2400 years.

@@animal0mother again; that is proof of it being written down. This idea of remaining vigilant is something "black" people have culturally expressed for millenia. But you would not know that because our culture has been destroyed and largely erased to assuage the insecurities and inferiority complex of the "stay sleep" culture vulture class.

Did you research the Scottsboro Boys?

@@crankystinkleton4284 Terrible lyrics. Learn to write!

@@crankystinkleton4284 It's seems that the truth has hurt your feelings. Rap is not music. It does not contain the basic elements of music. Hence NOT music. Moreover the lyrics are horrible and misogynistic. And don't get me started on the rap so called "Artist". An example of ignorance and Stupidity. Not one redeeming quality whatsoever!

@@crankystinkleton4284 Well I see yout able to copy and paste. Being able to copy and paste is not knowledge. I will help you. 3 important elements of music are: Melody, Harmony and Rhythm. Rap "music" is devoid of both Melody and Harmony. Although you might hear rhythm in rap, it's not interesting and only noise. Furthermore a rapper will never win the noble prize of Literature. (Reference: Bob Dylan) I'm a musician playing Country Blues Guitar. And that music tradition comes from the great early black country Blues artist. Leadbelly being one of many. (Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller, just to mention some. (Which by the way their music represented the region their from.) So I will sit down and play the Blues on my acoustic guitar. Appreciating the great black blues artist from the 1920s, 1930s andv1940s.

@@crankystinkleton4284 Very good that you are a fellow musician. And with art we have preferences. However Art is in the eye of the beholder. I'm Canadian, a multicultural society. The US is a racist and violent society. (America can't even provide Healthcare to their citizens. A basic Human Right) Back to the topic at hand. Just because words rhyme does not make it poetry nor interesting literature. "In both Rap and hip-hop, one hears a lot of messages that are degrading to women. Messages that push violence, that are disparaging to the police. One hears messages that treat relationships between men and women as something disposable and glorify mistreatment of women." My father was a jazz pianist and my mother listened to Hank Williams. I grow up in the sixties hence the influence of folk music during the "Great Folk Scare". (I even saw Bob Dylan live at Newport when he went electric!) Hinduism says we are presently in a cycle called Kali-yuga, the fourth and worst of the four yugas in a Yuga Cycle, which is of conflict and sin. Lies are truths, vice is virtue, up is down, etc etc. However, the good news is that we are nearing the end of Kali-yuga cycle. To much suffering. Better times ahead. So then as musicians we continue to perfect our art.

Grant it that the early blues had lyrics that portrayed vilolence to women. But not to the extend with today's Rap and hip-hop music. (Hip-hop culture, now thats a real Oxymoron) Moreover today we have the internet (Which didn't exist in those early times) that puts out these horrible rap lyrics. And you bloody can't compare Robert Johnson to R.Kelly, and other rappers. By the way, R.Kelly who has been convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering. Not in the same universe. Sorry I have to tell you this, you possibility being a fan of that piece of garbage and poor excuse of a human being.